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Movies You've Seen Recently | May 2018

Disco

Disco

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,567
I think its the best Star Wars has been since the old trilogy, since Empire really. Canto Bight and the Rose shit is awful but Johnson used the old cast much better than Abrams tbh (same goes for the music, the Leia/love theme seguing into the Imperial March when Luke says bye to his sister and then confronts his greatest failure for one last fight...whew). also Adam Driver is the best thing to happen to this new series. consistently the best new character they have. I liked the faux-Rashomon thing they were doing with Luke and Kylo's accounts of what happened too.

anyways First Reformed been super high on my watchlist since that trailer came out. Excited to see it, I always thought Ethan Hawke was da gawd due to his Linklater performances. But I've been waiting for a minute to see him tackle something with a bit more existential menace. good to see it got dat Fancy Clown seal of approval. hopefully seeing it next week.
 
Atraveller

Atraveller

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,308
SOLO: A Star Wars Story

The movie gets pander-y at times, but it's alright, because everyone in the movie killed it. Alden Ehrenreich is not just younger but a more naive Han Solo, he didn't try to do Harrison impression all the time, instead he got on to something that was his, which is great. Emilia Clarke had great chemistry with Alden, and she got more than one-note badass "yas queen" material to play with this time. Donald Glover was perfect as Lando, he was suave incarnate. Woody Harrelson played as himeself, but that suits the mentor/friend character well.
 
ElephantShell

ElephantShell

10,000,000
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,053
Watched Game Night with my family and thought it was really funny. Jason Bateman doing the same character he does 90% of the time but it worked for me in this one.

Also watched The Lost City of Z with my girlfriend who promptly fell asleep but I was actually pretty hooked right away and thought it was great.
 
Fancy Clown

Fancy Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,468
Messofanego said:
Along with Tarkovsky, did anyone get any Bergman (Winter Light, Through A Glass Darkly, The Silence) or Bresson's Diary Of A Country Priest (which influenced Scorsese for Taxi Driver) from First Reformed? All the doubting and existentialism about being a priest in the premise reminds me of those faith films. Or is it more genre-y?
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Oh yeah, it has big Bergman vibes (more so than Tarkovsky) in its look, feel, and premise.
 
ViewtifulJC

ViewtifulJC

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,020
Messofanego said:
Along with Tarkovsky, did anyone get any Bergman (Winter Light, Through A Glass Darkly, The Silence) or Bresson's Diary Of A Country Priest (which influenced Scorsese for Taxi Driver) from First Reformed? All the doubting and existentialism about being a priest in the premise reminds me of those faith films. Or is it more genre-y?
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Oh its 100% a hybrid of Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest and Bergman's Winter Light, filtered though a deeply Calvinist genre director. Schrader's never been shy about stealing from the best, but its still very ambitious in tone/theme/technique in a rare way for modern US filmmaking.
 
Blader

Blader

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,746
Speaking of Bergman...

The Virgin Spring
The first half hour was pretty meandering, but the moment you see the herdsmen's attitude change and attack Karin, your eyes are glued to the screen. I had not really come to expect a thriller like that from Bergman, but the whole next hour was just absolutely tense and gripping. I also can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something really striking about the cinematography of this movie; it looks like a Kurosawa film. So far, this is my favorite Bergman yet.
8/10
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,687
UK
Fancy Clown said:
Oh yeah, it has big Bergman vibes (more so than Tarkovsky) in its look, feel, and premise.
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ViewtifulJC said:
Oh its 100% a hybrid of Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest and Bergman's Winter Light, filtered though a deeply Calvinist genre director. Schrader's never been shy about stealing from the best, but its still very ambitious in tone/theme/technique in a rare way for modern US filmmaking.
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Awesome to hear! Comes out in a week here.
 
Rhomega

Rhomega

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,798
Arizona
Double feature at the movies.

Deadpool 2: The Deadpool I enjoyed from the first movie, with plenty of great jokes (I actually laughed at some of them, that's saying something), including a dig at Rob Liefeld himself. A few unexpected surprises too.

Solo; A Star Wars Story: There are some things I'm thankful for in this movie. Showing Corellia and the Kessel Run for instance. They even make a couple of original Expanded Universe references...including Teras Kasi of all things. Ultimately though, this film does feel unnecessary. It's not a bad movie, and it's worth watching once, but really, only once.

I also now have my Letterboxd watchlist under 200.
 
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Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
62,008
Tomb Raider 2018

Uhhh that was pretty good. Best game movie since uhh forever. Didnt even notice i was watching a game movie until the very very end really. They did a great job. More of this please.
 
MidnightCowboy

MidnightCowboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,758
Post Tenebras Lux - 9/10

Luminous filmmaking, absolutely adore how the film unfolds like a dream or distant memory. The kaleidoscopic camera lens really adds to that effect, distorting both the lush Mexican landscape and emotional wavelength of the film's numerous characters. I was not surprised to find this was semi-autobiographical afterward, despite certain fantastical elements it feels too real and true to life to be anything but. It's fairly heavy, if not downright depressing, but in the end I found the innocence of the children and the overall tenderness of the family moments powerful enough that I walked away oddly uplifted (this Neil Young scene has been on a loop in my brain since).

Want to give one last shoutout to the AA meeting scene, I appreciated everything about that moment. The nicknames, the working class faces, the intimate moment between Seven and Juan afterward. I don't know exactly what I mean by this, but it's satisfying to see men not hide from their emotions.

First Reformed - 9/10

God bless Ethan Hawke. I'm serious, the man has been killing it for a long time now, he deserves this moment. Not quite sure how I felt about how hard it pushed its environmentalism message, felt like Balq was a little too cartoonish/that Google conspiracy scene didn't really work for me? But then again maybe that's the point, and in the end it wasn't enough to derail a sterling midlife crisis film. Love, love, love the Northeast rusty boat setting, always a pleasure. The supporting cast is excellent, Amanda Seyfried's eyes were born to cry on camera and Cedric brings a lot of warmth and understanding to his role, I really liked him in this. The guy who plays the boyfriend obviously has that standout scene too. The last scene is probably in the you-know-what fakeout ending scene hall of fame, but Beau Travail still reigns supreme!
 
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
I just saw First Reformed

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valuv

valuv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,625
May kinda sucked for movies. I only got to see these ones since not much else seemed worth seeing:

In order of best to worst
Cold Water re-release
The Rider
Revenge
First Reformed
Solo
Sollers Point
Deadpool 2


Hope June has more interesting releases
 
MidnightCowboy

MidnightCowboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,758
In honor of her 90th, rewatched a personal favorite.

The Gleaners and I - Of all of Varda's admirable qualities, her insight and humanization of lower class people has always resonated most with me. It's liberating to see these people depicted in film (or in this case video). They are marginalized, not forgotten by society, just ignored. Varda gives them visibility, yes, but more than anything, she gives them respect. She treats these people like, well, people. And then she hits you with all those playful moments, the trucks, the lens-cap dance, and I don't know, it all just goes a long way towards melting my heart.
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,687
UK
MidnightCowboy said:
Post Tenebras Lux - 9/10

Luminous filmmaking, absolutely adore how the film unfolds like a dream or distant memory. The kaleidoscopic camera lens really adds to that effect, distorting both the lush Mexican landscape and emotional wavelength of the film's numerous characters. I was not surprised to find this was semi-autobiographical afterward, despite certain fantastical elements it feels too real and true to life to be anything but. It's fairly heavy, if not downright depressing, but in the end I found the innocence of the children and the overall tenderness of the family moments powerful enough that I walked away oddly uplifted (this Neil Young scene has been on a loop in my brain since).

Want to give one last shoutout to the AA meeting scene, I appreciated everything about that moment. The nicknames, the working class faces, the intimate moment between Seven and Juan afterward. I don't know exactly what I mean by this, but it's satisfying to see men not hide from their emotions.

First Reformed - 9/10

God bless Ethan Hawke. I'm serious, the man has been killing it for a long time now, he deserves this moment. Not quite sure how I felt about how hard it pushed its environmentalism message, felt like Balq was a little too cartoonish/that Google conspiracy scene didn't really work for me? But then again maybe that's the point, and in the end it wasn't enough to derail a sterling midlife crisis film. Love, love, love the Northeast rusty boat setting, always a pleasure. The supporting cast is excellent, Amanda Seyfried's eyes were born to cry on camera and Cedric brings a lot of warmth and understanding to his role, I really liked him in this. The guy who plays the boyfriend obviously has that standout scene too. The last scene is probably in the you-know-what fakeout ending scene hall of fame, but Beau Travail still reigns supreme!
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Nice to see Post Tenebras Lux get some love.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,701
Stand by Me
★★★★½
It's no surprise that Stand By Me is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella. In "It" and many of his other stories, one of King's greatest strengths was authentic voices of his characters, especially of kids and between friends, and Stand By Me is just oozing with those King-isms. The realistic and compelling portrayal of friendship and youthful adventure, the other stories and vignettes adding texture and atmosphere to Castle Rock, the rawness and emotional weight of its gradually-revealed character depth, their struggles and fears.

The Fugitive
★★★★
A taut thriller from minute one, The Fugitive is both an intense chase and a murder mystery, anchored by great performances from Jones' relentless marshal and Ford's equally relentless titular character. Easily one of the best thrillers I've seen, the ceaseless pursuit and escalating situations as both men attempted to outwit and outmaneuver eachother means the suspense rarely lets up

The Matrix (rewatch)
★★★★★
It had been quite a while since I had seen The Matrix and, as expected, it's good as ever. I think I appreciate more now than before; the pacing is lighting fast yet perfectly balances the world-building and exposition in a way that the movie never seems dull. Every scene feels purposeful, not a moment wasted. Nearly 20 years later, and Neo's journey remains thrilling, the characters memorable, the cinematography gorgeous, the action still hard-hitting and stylish. I don't usually like wire-fu style fighting, but The Matrix is one movie where those kinds of physics-defying movements make perfect sense and the actual fighting still feels brutal and forceful.
 
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Rhomega

Rhomega

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,798
Arizona
The Best Years Of Our Lives: Not to be confused with the Abbott and Costello movie "The Time Of Their Lives", which released the same year. It's kind of amazing that we get a movie like this when only a year and a half earlier it would be turned away for being "demoralizing". It's important to avoid romanticizing war and to not stop caring about troops just because they're not fighting anymore. Having 3 main characters instead of just 1 gives variety to problems that can be encountered. I do find the balance of character development is a bit off, as the movie focuses more on Al and Fred more than Homer, whose story gets moving more in the later half of the movie. I think this is a must-see if you love World War II stuff or perhaps you know a combat veteran.

Also a rare instance of seeing someone oppose America's involvement in WWII.
 
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Double

Double

Member
Nov 1, 2017
797
Disco said:
I think its the best Star Wars has been since the old trilogy, since Empire really. Canto Bight and the Rose shit is awful but Johnson used the old cast much better than Abrams tbh (same goes for the music, the Leia/love theme seguing into the Imperial March when Luke says bye to his sister and then confronts his greatest failure for one last fight...whew). also Adam Driver is the best thing to happen to this new series. consistently the best new character they have. I liked the faux-Rashomon thing they were doing with Luke and Kylo's accounts of what happened too.
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I definitely felt more entertained with this than with TFA, where the fun started to fall of a cliff once I realised that it would only grow to be more of a ANH-rehash the longer it went. (I like to see new things in my movies)
Now, TLJ luckily wasn't just copying ESB this time (at least not as much (it also copied parts of ROTJ :P)), but the inconsistency it creates when looking at the new trilogy is so so jarring. It really shows that each director (/screenwriter) was just looking at his part of the story, making things up as they went along. This might be the standard for movie trilogie making, but it really shows in a bad way in this one. It retroactively makes TFA even worse, or rather, even more superfluous, as TLJ disregards any setup in TFA as much as possible. Leaving it as just the ANH-rehash it is, a movie that doesn't need to exist. I'm really wary about JJ returning for the conclusion of the trilogy now, too, as that surely won't help with making the trilogy any more coherent.

Now, I don't blame anyone but Disney for this situation, as it's their decision to pump out a SW movie every year now and not taking their time with a bit of planning because $$$. Sure, they are a company looking to maximize profits, so their way of doing things is completely understandable from a business perspective. But, looking at how much of a clusterfuck their whole handling of SW has become to do so (problems with 4 out of 5 films in production already!), I can't but be happy that they're finally taking a L with Solo now, after seemingly trying to test the waters for pumping out even more SW per year by releasing it only half a year after the last one. Imagine how much better all these movies could be, how much more payoff the trilogy could offer, if Disney gave every movie a bit more time to cook in the oven. All the problems in their production demonstrate that it would be much, much needed. But, oh well, corporate greed.
 
xrnzaaas

xrnzaaas

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,125
I didn't really like the new Tomb Raider, but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. The visuals were really great, even difficult scenes to prepare like the
hard parachute landing
Thing is I wasn't a fan of dark/survivor Lara in the new games and the movie goes even further, especially in that one scene with the bad guy (you know which one). Also the whole evil organization theme was boring, countless other movies had that. I really wish we'll get an Uncharted movie at some point in the future, I'd very much like to see a lightly themed and spectacularly shot action-adventure movie with Nate Drake (it doesn't have to be completely silly like Jumanji 2, there's plenty of middle ground imo).
 
luca

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,933
I really liked Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I probably didn't get any of the references other than the big one. Anyway, I'm kind of in a Western mood I think, and may rewatch Logan; I have a feeling I may like it better this time. And maybe I'll check out True Grit, and Revenge.

Unfortunately, the past days I've been starting films only to stop midway through, probably because some very bad things have happened in my life and I haven't been able to focus for too long. Casualties have been Silence, Cargo and Looper. And I've liked much of them so far. Will go back to watch them in one go in June.

I also can't remember The Matrix having such cool action scenes. I must give it a rewatch.
 
Rhomega

Rhomega

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,798
Arizona
Octopussy: James Bond Goes To India. I'm sorry, but who approved that title. It's like you can't even mention it in polite company. A decent Bond with good fight scenes (especially with using a retractable buzzsaw gun), as well as clinging to a flying airplane, and what do Faberge eggs have to do with the plot again? Oh, and get ready for a stock Tarzan yell. You know, the exact one some people have as a ringtone.
 
lordxar

lordxar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,103
Divius said:
Any of the Tremors sequels worth watching?
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Funny you should ask. Was just talking about them at work today. They nosedive quickly and it's been a while since I've watched them but part two might be worth watching...maybe three for funsies. After that, no unless you like bad b movies.
 
lazybones18

lazybones18

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,339
Disobedience
Since it was from the director of A Fantastic Woman, I had to see this. It did not disappoint. I had three takeaways:

1. Is there a cultural/traditional reason why Rachel's character had to wear a wig out in public?

2. I actually like that the pivotal love scene wasn't too gratuitous. No real nudity (since that was taken care of earlier in the movie) and the love felt passionate. The saliva part was easily the best part of the entire scene

3. Maybe it's not really a problem in other independent theaters, but holy fuck can you get better sound-proof walls or something to block loud sounds from outside the theater room? I don't want to hear another movie from a different room while I'm trying to watch something. There was a quiet scene with the two leads and I could hear the trailer for Mamma Mia 2 being played in the theater room next to us. FUCKING MAMMA MIA 2! I DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT SHIT! Can you imagine if I heard that piece of shit during the love making scene. I would have been fucking pissed. And goddamn, can middle-aged/old couples please shut the fuck up!? Fucks sake, you don't mention every little detail from time to time. Just keep your fucking mouths shut and discuss whatever the fuck you want to talk about after the goddamn movie!
 
lordxar

lordxar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,103
Femme Fatale
Number two of my pick three for this month and what a crazy roller coaster of insanity this thing is. Not the De Palma flick I expected at all and I wanted to stop watching it almost immediately, but stuck it out for some reason. Turns out, there is an amazing payoff at the end. It's still a really bad movie, but considering how much I hated watching it, I really have to give it a slight nod in score for ending in some spectacular way.

femme-fatale03.jpg
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The Terminator
I can't even begin to count the number of times I've watched this. Saw it in the theater when it first came out and if memory serves, my dad and I went at least twice. From there, I think I've owned this on VHS and DVD with a large gap between finally owning it once again but on bluray this time. Just showed up in the mail today so it went right in the player after work. I've been itching to see this for some time and even tried Netflix disc rental but the disc was bad. Anyway, to say I was excited to watch this again is an understatement.

I wasn't worried about the film holding up. This is one of my all time favorites and it definitely holds up really well all these years later. One thing that surprised me a bit was that as I watched this, it felt like there hadn't been much time since the last time I saw it where in reality it was several years ago. I guess I've watched this so much its ingrained in my mind. I still find the story and its execution amazing.

The parts that didn't really hold up were some of the effects. Once the Terminator gets its outer shell injured, there's some pretty bad animatronic Arnold heads performing surgery on itself. I don't recall it being a big deal as a kid. In fact, that eye gouge scene is probably why I hate eye things like that to this day and dread ever having Lasik or something like that. The effects do get a lot better once the skin is burnt off the Terminator though.

Great film is still great!

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DreadfulOmen

DreadfulOmen

Member
Feb 6, 2018
1,133
Love Simon.

I thought it was a really good movie. I laughed a lot in the beginning, but the 2nd half got kinda emotional.

After I finished the movie, it got me thinking about a kid in highschool. We weren't friends or anything, and I can't imagine how tough it was for him.
 
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DreadfulOmen

DreadfulOmen

Member
Feb 6, 2018
1,133
Divius said:
Without context, this just makes it seem you can't imagine how tough it was for him for not being your friend. :D
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Yea I see what you're saying, but that's not what I meant. I just didn't want to say too much about the movie, because I'm not sure what people would consider a spoiler.
 
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